Infant Massage May Not be the Answer, but it Doesn't Hurt
Although many are skeptical about the alleged benefits of infant massage, the act alone may be a rewarding experience for both parents and child.
We’ve recently begun having an occupational therapist come to our home to work with our two-year-old son. He is on his way out of an early intervention program through our local public school system and we are now visiting with all of the specialists on staff, even those not associated with the speech delay that originally qualified him for the program. The O.T. has visited about 5 times so far, each time working on some of our son’s sensory issues, which are pretty minor, but with access to free professional services, we feel like it’s worth exploring. He exhibits a desire to have fairly intense pressure on certain parts of his body, specifically his forehead, the bridge of his nose, the back of his head, his shoulders and elbows. It’s not a constant thing, but usually when he’s getting tired or when he’s recently woken up from a nap.
Ultimately, we don’t view the sensory stuff as that big a deal, especially now that he’s tested above his age range in every developmental area. But it’s been nice to get a new viewpoint and our occupational therapist is a big proponent of infant massage. Thus far, our son has seemed to really enjoy the time spent with the O.T., allowing her to gently massage him with various techniques. She talks to him and makes it fun and he’s even asked us when Miss Cory is going to come back to put her hands on him. Overall, it’s been a pretty fun experience for all of us.
My wife has made a point to try to incorporate some of the massage techniques with our son at different times of the day, especially just before she puts him down at night. He seems to really like the massage and it helps to relax him a little more before bed, which is always a good thing.
Some of the techniques our O.T. has focused on deal with the head and neck area, which are believed to aid in opening sinuses and improving blood flow around the neck and scalp. It’s impossible for us to know if there is any true benefit to the massage, but it seems fairly clear to us that he likes the act itself and it’s nice to spend some quiet time gently massaging your toddler, if they’ll let you.
The little bit of reading I’ve done about infant massage offers the expected extremes offered by both credible sources and regular folks who like to voice their opinion. With information ranging from infant massage as a must-employ tactic for raising healthy children to infant massage as a complete waste of time, it’s all out there. In our experience, we’ve found it to be a no-lose situation. Even if the massage itself isn’t really helping with our son’s minor sensory issues, it’s clearly not hurting him and he seems to enjoy it.
In that sense, we’ve embraced it as a means to ensure that we get a few quiet and peaceful minutes with our son every day. At his age, that can be difficult to achieve in the course of a normal day’s activities. From pre-school to playing outside and making sure that he’s not too rough with his little sister, his days are pretty jam packed at the moment. A little massage at the end of the day has proven to be a great little moment of relaxation for our son and whichever one of his parents gets to perform the massage.
Ultimately, we don’t view the sensory stuff as that big a deal, especially now that he’s tested above his age range in every developmental area. But it’s been nice to get a new viewpoint and our occupational therapist is a big proponent of infant massage. Thus far, our son has seemed to really enjoy the time spent with the O.T., allowing her to gently massage him with various techniques. She talks to him and makes it fun and he’s even asked us when Miss Cory is going to come back to put her hands on him. Overall, it’s been a pretty fun experience for all of us.
My wife has made a point to try to incorporate some of the massage techniques with our son at different times of the day, especially just before she puts him down at night. He seems to really like the massage and it helps to relax him a little more before bed, which is always a good thing.
Some of the techniques our O.T. has focused on deal with the head and neck area, which are believed to aid in opening sinuses and improving blood flow around the neck and scalp. It’s impossible for us to know if there is any true benefit to the massage, but it seems fairly clear to us that he likes the act itself and it’s nice to spend some quiet time gently massaging your toddler, if they’ll let you.
The little bit of reading I’ve done about infant massage offers the expected extremes offered by both credible sources and regular folks who like to voice their opinion. With information ranging from infant massage as a must-employ tactic for raising healthy children to infant massage as a complete waste of time, it’s all out there. In our experience, we’ve found it to be a no-lose situation. Even if the massage itself isn’t really helping with our son’s minor sensory issues, it’s clearly not hurting him and he seems to enjoy it.
In that sense, we’ve embraced it as a means to ensure that we get a few quiet and peaceful minutes with our son every day. At his age, that can be difficult to achieve in the course of a normal day’s activities. From pre-school to playing outside and making sure that he’s not too rough with his little sister, his days are pretty jam packed at the moment. A little massage at the end of the day has proven to be a great little moment of relaxation for our son and whichever one of his parents gets to perform the massage.
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